Process and apparatus for handling materials



7, Dec. 2, 1941. I R. A. GIFT. JR 2,265,036

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING MATERIALS Filed May 6, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 130 3m [20 104 g 182 M 1 -5 k503i LL! P 43 2 42- .5052 .54 i 16m 56 40 i 74.; 53 68 36 92 t V g 3 102 I 26 J 30 7 1 L 1 INVENTOR V AOEQTAfl/FZJ ATTORNEY Dec. 2, 1941. s y-'1 JR S 2,265,036 S PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLISG MATERIALS Filed May 6, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 7 r I 6 E 66 a IF l L INVENTOR fiofiffilffd BY Z I %Y%T\ORNEY Patented Dec. '2, 1941 PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING MATERIALS Robert A; Gift, in, Trenton, N. 1., assignor to Filatex Corporation. New York, N. Y, a corporation of New Jersey Application May 6, 1940, Serial N0. 833,502

18 Claims. (Cl. 242 43) The present invention relates to the winding of filaments. More particularly, it relates to the winding of filaments onto forms under'constant tension throughout the winding and in such manner as to produce a uniformly shaped body of wound material.

In the winding of bobbins, spools, cones and the like heretofore, particularly with filaments having appreciable elasticity, such as elastic yarn comprising a rubber core provided with a textile covering, and the like, it has been impossible have been made to drive the winding apparatus so that the winding accreting on the form will ll have a substantially constant surface speed, but all such methods heretofore employed have not been capable of use in forming peculiarly shaped wound bodies such, for example, as the winding commonly known as a fpineapple cone, in which the top and bottom edges of the conical winding are slanted towards each other away from the axis of the winding. Furthermore, it has been impossible to rotate a wound body at uniform surface speed by the use of facilities heretofore available since the surface of a wound body becomes irregular and thereby provides an irregular contacting surface for co-operation with a friction roller or the like. Also, the friction set up between filament guides heretofore available and the filament being wound has caused the filament to have an irregular tension throughout the winding operation. 7

It is a general object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus for winding filaments, such, for example, as elastic rubber yarns or bare rubber cores, upon forms under substantially uniform tension.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a wound body in which the filament is under substantially uniform tension throughout.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a substantially uniformly-shaped wound body.

to provide a process and apparatus for w; and guiding filaments to winding forms under substantially uniform tension.

It is also a further object of the present inven tion to provide a process and apparatus for pro:- ducing wound bodies having a non-uniform diameter throughout their length such as those known commercially as pineapple cones," in which the filament is under substantially uniform tension throughout the wound body.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus for winding filaments into wound bodies-in which the filaments are under sufilcient tension to cause the wound bodies to be stable during handling and shipping and at the same time will release from the bodies during usage without han i Other objects and advantages willbe apparent from the following description of the invention.

The process of the present invention in general comprises supporting and rotating a winding form by a zone 'of force exerted by frictionally contacting the winding form and subsequently the surface of the wound body which builds up on the form with a rotating member and traversing the rotating member backwards and forwards along the surface of the wound body while it is rotating and, if desired, decreasing the amplitude of traverse of the rotating member in each direction in accordance with the increase in diameter of the wound body tothereby provide a wound body of desired shape, such, for example, as a pineapple cone."

The apparatus of the present invention comprises a combination of elements capable of winding filamentary material into a wound body of desired shape and in which the filamentary a terial is under substantially uniform tension.

The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others, and the apparatus embodying features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements closure, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a more detailed description of the pt invention reference should be madeto the drawings wherein;

Fig. l is a front elevational view of one form of apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention and capable of usein the prac- It is a further object of the present invention 55 tice of the method of the present invention, certain of the elements of the apparatus being ratus of the present invention, partly in section,

taken along the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. l and looking in the direction of the arrows:

Fig. 4 is a detailed view of the friction driving member of the apparatus partly broken away for the sake of clarity and executed upon an enlarged scale, and

Fig. 5 is a detailed sectional view of a portion of the traversing mechanism executed on an eniarged scale and taken substantially on the plane indicated by line 5-5 of Fig. 3 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

For the purpose of explanation the present invention will be described in connection with the winding of elastic ruber yarns or bare rubber cores upon comically-shaped winding forms, but it is to be understood that the invention may be utilized in connection with the winding of any filamentary material, such as thread, wire, rope, tape and the like upon a cylindrical or any other shape of winding form desired. Elastic yarn, oi the type previously described and the bare elastic core have been selected for use in the description of the present invention because these materials are the most difiicult to uniformly wind upon a form of any of the known types of filamentary material. Elastic filaments of this type will undergo large stretch upon application of light tensioning forces, and consequently will vary greatly in tension throughout the wound body if the winding tension is not maintained absolutely uniform. Variation in tension throughout a wound body of elastic yarn is highly detrimental to the eflicient use of such yam since the variation in tension is carried forward with the yarn into the finished article, and in some instances is actually magnified, with the result that finished articles such as knitted or woven goods will pucker or otherwise be distorted after completion because of the irregularity in the tension of the elastic yarn or the bare elastic core used in the fabrication of the articles.

Structure 0/ the apparatus The apparatusillustrated in Fig. 1 comprises ber 22 enables the latter to be reciprocated on the shaft 24 while the shaft and member are rotating.

The apparatus for reciprocating the member 22 comprises a yoke arm 42 provided on its upper end with furcations 44 which are received withinan annular groove 46 cut in the boss 46 formed integrally with or suitably attached to the friction driving member 22.

The yoke arm 42 has ears 56 formed on the side thereof which are suitably shaped to engage with guide rods 52 carried by suitable frame members 54 which rotatably support the spline shaft 24. The yoke arm 42 is provided with a foot 56 which has a blind slot 58 formed therein. A stud 66 is carried by a slide 62 and received within the slot 58.

The slide 62 is received within a depression 64 formed in an' arm 66 fastened to a segmental gear 66 by means of pins or the like ID. The gear 68 is carried by a stud shaft II journaled for oscillation in a projection I2 of a plate 14 supported by a standard 15. Oscillation of the arm 66 causes the yoke arm 42 to be reciprocated on the guide rods 52 and thereby reciprocate the friction driving member 22 on the spline shaft 24.

The segmental gear 66 is oscillated by means I of a rack I6 received within a way 18 formed an arbor Ill carried by an arm I2 which is mounted for rotation with a shaft I4 suitably journaled for rotation in an upright I6. The arbor I6 is mounted so as to project downwardly away from the arm I2 at an angle to the horizontal and is provided with a conventional cone winding form holder I8 shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. The holder I8 receives and frictionaly grips a conventional cardboard cone winding form 26, and the angle which th arbor I0 makes with the horizontal is selected so that the lower face of the conical form 20 is substantially horizontal when the cone 26 is in the initial winding position without any filamentary material wound thereon.

.A rotatable and reciprocable friction driving member 22 is carried by a shaft 24 which is provided with a spline 26 which receives a key 26 disposed within a keyway 36 in the bore 22 of the friction driving member 22. The member 22 is thereby rotated by rotation of the shaft 24 which may be driven by a pulley 34 which is connected with pulley 36 carried by a cam shaft 28 by means of a belt connector 46. The spline connection between the shaft 24 and the memwithin the plat I4. The bottom of the way I6 is provided with a slot 66 through which a cam follower 62 mounted on the rack I6 projects. The cam follower 82 is' received within a cam groove 64 formed in a cam 66 rotated by the shaft 36. The cam shaft 36 is driven by means of a pulley 86 carried thereby and a pulley 66 carried by .a line shaft 92 suitably supported by bearing standards 94. The pulleys 66 and 66 are coimected by a belt 96. Rotation of the cam 86 causes the follower 62 and the rack 16 to reciprocate and, in turn, oscillate the segmental gear 66.

Q Since the rotatably mounted conicaliy-shaped form 26 initially rests upon the friction driving member 22, it follows that rotation of the member 22 causes rotation of the form, and a filament 96 passed through a pigtail guide or the lik I66 carried by yoke arm 42 and then passed into an annular groove I62 in the friction driving member 22 and then suitably fastened around the form 26 is thereby wound upon the form and caused to substantially cover the same as the member 22 is traversed backwards and forwards by the traversing mechanism previously described.

As a wound body builds up on the form, the frictional winding member 22 will contact with the surface of the body and drive the same at a constant surface speed so as to feed the elastic yarn upon the wound body under uniform tension. The wound body I64 so formed will gradually increase in diameter and move the arbor I6 upwardly to thereby rotate the arm I2 and the shaft I4. The shaft I4 has an arm I66 connected for movement therewith. The other end of the arm I66 is formed into a clevis I66 and a link H0 is pivotally connected within the clevis in any desired manner. The lower end of the link H6 is likewise pivotally connected to the end of an arm H2 mounted for rotation with a shaft II4 suitably journaled in the upright I6 and in an arm I I6 carried by a suitable standard H6. A gear I20 is mounted on the end of shaft H6 opposite from the end that carries the arm H2 and is suitably connected to the shaft III for rotation therewith The gear I meshes with a rack I22 slidably mounted for vertical movement within arms I24 and I26 carried by the standard H8. The rack I22 is connected at its lower'end with a rod I28 by means of a conventional swivel connection I30 which causes the rack I22 and rod I28 to move together vertically, but enables the rod I28 to rotate axially relative to the rack I22. A cam I32 is rigidly mounted on the lower end of rod I28 and is received within an upwardlyextending housing I34 carried by the arm 66 of the traversing mechanism. The cam surface I35 of the cam I32 coacts with a cam surface I36 formed on the end of the slide 62. The slide 62 is urged towards cam I32 so as to maintain the cam surface I35 of the cam I32 in contact with the cam surface I36 of the slide 62 by means of a spring I88 disposed within the recess 64 and operative between the end I40 of the slide 62 and the interior face I42 of the recess 64. Upward movement of the rack I 22 causes upward movement or the cam I32 with resultant movement of the slide 62 towards the cam I32 under the force exerted by the spring I98, with the result that the stud 80 is moved towards the outer end of the blind slot/68 to thereby decrease the amplitude of reciprocatory movement of theyoke arm 42.

Oscillation of the arm 66 causes the rod I28 to oscillate simultaneously but this oscillation is not imparted to the rack I22 because of the swivel connection I30. v

Filamentary material to be wound upon the winding form 20 vmay be supplied from a reel, such as a swift I44 carried by a shaft I46 which is suitably mounted for rotation in open top bearings I48 in standards I50. The shaft 146 is suitably driven as by means of a pulley I52 mounted for rotation therewith which is driven from a pulley I54 mounted for rotation on shaft 92 by means of a belt or the like I56. The swift I44 may, if desired, be of the collapsible type well known in the art and may have a skein of filamentary material I58 applied thereto in a well known manner.

The filament 88 is led from the skein I58 and passed between a pair of positively driven feed rollers I60. The lower roller of the pair is mounted for rotation with a shaft I62 suitably journaled for rotation in standards I64, and may be driven by means of a pulley I66 mounted for rotation therewith from a pulley I68 mount-- ed for rotation with the shaft 82 by means of a belt I10. The upper roller of the pair of rollers I60 is mounted upon a stub shaft I12 which is mounted for rotation in open top bearings I14 formed in the standards I64. The speeds of rotation of the feed rollers I60 and the friction driving member 22 are proportioned so that the surface speeds of these rotating elements are such that a loop I16 initially formed in the filament 98 between the feed rollers I60 and the pigtail guide I00 is substantially maintained during the winding operation.

Operation of the' apparatus Elastic filamentary material 88 is led from the skein I58 carried by the. swift I44 and is passed between the feed rollers I60 and is'then permitrial is relieved and the filamentary material as-' sumes a relaxed. state within the loop I18 from which it passes through the pigtail I00 or any desired type of tensioning device onto the winding form 20 through the annular guide groove I02 of the member 22.

During rotation of the machine, the cam 86 rotates and causes follower member 82 to reciprocate in the slot 80 and, in turn, causes reciprocation of the rack 16 which coacts with the gear 68 to oscillate the latter and, in turn, oscillate the arm 66. The pin operating in slot 58 causes the yoke arm 42 to be reciprocated and through the medium of the yoke formed by furcations 44 causes the friction drive member 22 to be traversed backwards and forwards along the winding form 20. The cam groove 84 of the cam 86 is suitably shaped in well known manner so as to cause the speed of traversing movement of the friction driving member 22 to be greater between the mid point of the winding form 20 and the smaller end of the form than between the mid point of the winding form and the larger end so as to prevent the filamentary material 88 from building up to a greater extent at the small end of the winding form 20 than at the larger end due to differences in diameter. along the conically-shaped winding form 20.

The filamentary material 88 is thus uniformly wound upon the winding form 20 to form a compact and uniformly shaped wound body I04 in which the filamentary material 88 exists under substantially uniform tension due to the fact that the filament in the loop I16 is untensioned and the filament is substantially uniformly tens'ioned as it passes through the pigtail I00 or other desired type of tensioning device prior to being laid upon the winding form 20. If desired, any suitable tensioning device such as a glass rod or rollers positively driven from the shaft 24 may be used in place of or in addition to the pigtail guide I00 to impart any amount of uniform tension desired to the filamentary material as it is being wound.

As the wound body I04 increases in diameter due to the filamentary material 98 accreting v thereon, the arbor I0 is moved upwardly and rotates the arm I2 which, in turn, causes the shaft I4 to rotate the arm I06 upwardly so that the arm II2-is rotated upwardly or in clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 3, by means of the link I I0. Clockwise, rotation of the arm I i2 ro-' tates the gear I20 by means of the shaft H4 and the rack I22 is thereby moved upwardly to move the cam I32 upwardly so as to permit the slide 62 to move to the right as viewed in Figs. 3 and 5 and thus move the stud- 60 towards the outer end of the slot 58 in the foot 56 of the yoke arm 42. This reduces the effective radius of oscillation of the stud 60 during oscillation of the arm 68 and therebyprogressively reduces the amplitude of reciprocation of the yoke arm 42 which causes the amplitude of. traverse of the friction driving member 22' to be likewise reduced in both direc- The machine is then started in operation as tions. This action causes the area of the wound body traversed to be reduced progressively as the body increases in diameter, with the result that the ends of the wound body slant towards each other away from the axis of the winding form to produce the surfaces In and II! at the ends of the body and thereby form the well known pineapple" type of cone winding.

The combined rolling and sliding friction between the surface of the friction driving member 22 and the surface of the wound body causes the surface to be continuously smoothed during the winding operation and thereby form an exceptionally smooth winding on the body I04 in which the elastic filamentary material is uniformly tensioned throughout the body, is also sumciently tensioned to cause the body to be able to retain its shape during handling and shipping, and at the same time permits the elastic filamentary material to be readily released from the wound body without sticking or hanging so as to eliminate jerky feeding action when the body is being used to supply elastic yarn or the like to various fabricating machines, looms, braiders and the like. This enables elastic yarn to be rapidly and economically fabricated so as to produce finished textile articles which are free from puckers, streaks and other disfigurations common to textile articles heretofore manufactured from elastic yarns.

Since certain changes in carrying out the above process and in the construction set forth, which embody the invention, may be made without departing from its scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted sense.

The invention having been described. what is claimed is:

1. A filament-winding apparatus, comprising means for rotatably mounting a winding form, reciprocable means for rotating said winding form through frictional contact with the surface as illustrative and not in a limiting of the wound body which builds up thereon,

means for rotating and reciprocating the reciprocable means, means for supplying filamentary material in substantially relaxed state, means for uniformly tensioning the relaxed filamentary material, and means for feeding the tensioned filamentary material to the winding form.

2. A filament-winding apparatus, comprising means for rotatably mounting a winding form, reciprocable means for supporting and rotating said form through frictional contact with the surface of the form and subsequently with the surface of the wound body which builds up thereon, means for reciprocating and rotating said reciprocable means, means for feeding filamentary material to the said winding form between said form and the reclprocable means, and means for progressively decreasing the amplitude of reciprocation of said reciprocable means as the diameter of the wound body increases.

3. A filament-winding apparatus, comprising means for rotatably mounting a winding form, reciprocable means for supporting and rotating said form through frictional contact with said form and subsequently with the surface of the wound body which builds up thereon, means for rotating and reciprocating said reciprocable means, filament supply means, means for feeding a filament from said supply means at a substantially constant speed, means for guiding said filament to the winding form between the windsuch as knitting machines,

ing form and the reciprocable means, the speeds of rotation of said reciprocable member and filament feeding means being proportioned so that a loop initially formed in the filament between the feeding means and the reciprocable member will be substantially maintained, and means actuated in unison with the increase in diameter of the wound body to progressively decrease the amplitude of reciprocation of the reciprocable member.

4. A filament-winding apparatus, comprising a substantially cylindrically-shaped member mounted for rotation and reciprocation and provided with an annular groove therein, means for rotatably mounting a winding form in position to be supported and rotated by said member through frictional contact between the surface of the winding form and subsequently between the surface of the wound-body which builds up thereon and said member, means for rotating and reciprocating said member, means for feeding filamentary material to said winding form through the groove of said member, and means actuated by the raising of the winding form mounting means as the wound body increases in diameter to progressively decrease the amplitude of reciprocation of said member.

5. A filament-winding apparatus comprising a movable support, a w ding-form holder rotatably carried thereby, a rotatably mounted shaft, means for driving said shaft, a cylindricallyshaped member carried by said shaft in position to support and rotate a winding-form when the latter is in position on the winding-form holder to receive filamentary material from any suitable supply source, means for connecting said cylindrical member and said shaft for rotation together and for relative reciprocating movement, and means for reciprocating said cylindrical member along said shaft as said shaft rotates to cause said cylindrical member to rotate said winding-form and any winding which builds up thereon while reciprocating longitudinally of the form.

6. A filament winding apparatus comprising a movable support, a winding-form holder rotatably carried thereby, a rotatably mounted shaft, means for driving said shaft, a cylindricallyshaped member carried by said shaft in position to support and rotate a winding-form when the latter is in position on the winding-form holder to receive filamentary material from any suitable supply source, means for connecting said cylindrical member and said shaft for rotation together and for relative reciprocating movement, means for reciprocating said cylindrical member along said shaft as said shaft rotates to cause said cylindrical member to rotate said winding-form and any winding which builds up thereon while reciprocating longitudinally of the form, and means for progressively decreasing the amplitude of reciprocation of said cylindrical member as a winding builds up on said windingform.

7. A filament winding apparatus comprising a movable support, a winding-form holder rotatably carried thereby, a rotatably mounted shaft, means for driving said shaft, a cylindricallyshaped member carried by said shaft in position to support and rotate a winding-form when the latter is in position on the windingform holder to receive filamentary material from any suitable supply source, means for drical member and said shaft for rotation together and for relative reciprocating movement,

. rotation thereof, and progressively decre amplitude of thetraverse in each direction as the winding which builds up on the form increases, in diameter.

12. In a process of winding filaments, the steps comprising feeding a filament to a rotatable form, causing the filament to assume a substantially relaxed state before it is fed to said form, exerting azone of force against the winding which bly carried thereby, a rotatably mounted shaft,

means for driving said shaft, a cylindrical member carried by said shaft in position to support and rotate a winding-form when the latter'is in position on the winding-form holder to receive filamentary material from any suitable supply source, means for connecting said member and shaft for rotation together and for relative reciprocating move ent, rotating driving means, adjustable motion; translation means connecting said driving means and said cylindrical member and translating the rotative movement of the driving means to reciprocative movement for reciprocating the cylindrical member longitudinally of said winding-form, and means operated by movement of said support caused by a winding builds up on the form to simultaneously support and rotate the winding, and traversing the zone of force backwards and forwards along the axis of the winding during the rotation thereof.

13. In a process of winding filaments, the steps comprising feeding a filament to a rotatable building up on said form\to adjust said motion translating means to progressively reduce the amplitude of reciprocation of said cylindrical member as said windingincreases in size.

I 9. In a process of winding filaments, the steps form, causing the filament to assume a substantially untensioned state before it is fed to said form, exerting a zone of force against the winding which builds up thereon to simultaneously support and rotate the winding, the said zone of force always including the point at which the filament is fed to ,the winding, and traversing said zone.

of force backwards and forwards along the axis of the winding during the rotation thereof.

14. In a process of winding filaments, the steps comprising feeding a filament to a rotatable form,

causing the filament to assume a substantially relaxed state before it is fed to said form, exerting a zone of force against the winding which builds up thereof to simultaneously support and rotate the winding, the said zone of force always including the pointat which the filament is fed to the winding, traversing said zone of force backcompris'ing feeding a filament to a rotatable form,

exerting a zone of force against the winding which builds 'up on the formto simultaneously support and rotate the winding, the said zone of force always including the point at which the filament is fed to the winding, and traversing said zone and said point backwards and forwards along the winding during the rotation thereof while preventing relative movement between said point and the effective portion of said zone.

10. In a process of winding filaments, the steps comprising feeding a filament to a rotatable form, fexerting force against the winding which builds up on the form to simultaneously support and rotate the winding, the said force always ing exerted over an area which includes the point at which the filament is fed to the winding, traversing the area of application of said force backwards and forwards along the winding during the rotation thereof, and progressively decreasing the amplitude of the traverse in each direction as the" winding on the form increases in diameter.

11. In a process of winding filaments, the steps comprising feeding a filament to a rotatable form, exerting a zone of force against the winding which builds up on the form to simultaneously support and rotate the winding, traversing any given point in the zone of force backwards and\ forwards along the axis of the winding dim the the

wards and forwards along the winding during the rotation thereof, and progressively decreasing the amplitude of the traverse in each direction as the winding which builds up on said form increases in diameter.

15. A filament-winding apparatus, comprising a substantially cylindrically-shaped member mounted for rotation and reciprocation and provided with an annular groove therein, means for rotatably. mounting a. winding form in position to be supported and rotated by said member throughfi'ictional contact between the surface ofthe winding form and subsequently between the surface of the wound body which buiIdsJup thereon and said member, means for rotating and reciprocating said member, and means for feeding filamentary material to said winding form through the groove of said member.

16. A filament-winding apparatus comprising me for rotatably mounting a winding form, rotatable reciprocable means for supporting and rotating said form through frictional contact with said form and subsequently with the surface of the wound body which builds up thereon, means for rotating and reciprocating said reciprocable means, and means carried directly by said rotatable and reciprocable means for feeding a filament from a suitable supply sourceto said winding form.

ROBERT A. GIFT, Ja. 

